


The Truth Doesn't Lie

by theheartbelieves



Category: Where the Truth Lies (2005)
Genre: Blackmail, Coming Out, Drug Use, Emotionally Repressed, Fix-It, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Internalized Homophobia, Lanny gets his shit together, Love Confessions, M/M, Vince is still a saint, Vinny - Freeform, mention of threesomes, would these two idiots just talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 12:44:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13501898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theheartbelieves/pseuds/theheartbelieves
Summary: “We don’t fuck, Vince! We’re buddies, we’re pals, we’re partners, we’re a duo. We love each other but we don’t… fuck! We’re fucking stars. We can- We can travel together. We can hang out together, we can live together, but we can’t be queers!"Fix it for THAT SCENE.





	The Truth Doesn't Lie

**Author's Note:**

> Beta-ed by my wonderful bff, Sage.

“We don’t fuck, Vince! We’re buddies, we’re pals, we’re partners, we’re a duo. We love each other but we don’t… fuck! We’re fucking stars. We can- We can travel together. We can hang out together, we can live together, but we can’t be queers!"

“Okay,” is all Vince says in a weak voice as he backs away from Lanny towards his bedroom.

“It’s. Not. Funny!” Lanny regrets the outburst immediately, fisting his hands in his hair, then wiping them down his face.

He stands in the middle of the room, panting, feeling vaguely ridiculous. He turns and sits down heavily next to Maureen. Her nose is bleeding.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“About?”

“About your nose.” He sniffs, trying to compose himself. “It’s not broken, is it?”

She wipes away the blood. “Oh, yeah. Guess the question is: who’s going to pay me?”

For a second, his mind fixes on the possibility that she’s a rent girl but then- Ice runs through Lanny’s veins.

“What the hell are you saying?”

“Honey, I’m in my last year of college. This is a summer job. No, I want to write. I want to be a journalist.” She pauses, considering him. “So I can either use this information… or I could use-”

Lanny doesn’t even let her finish. He sees red as he grabs her by the arm, hauling her to her feet. She looks scared and he thinks  _ Good _ . He drags her a few steps before she gets her feet under her and trots to keep up. She’s yelling something but he can’t hear her over the pounding of blood in his ears.

He unlocks and opens the door, then throws Maureen out. She shrieks and yells more abuse at him, but he just slams the door in her face. It bangs shut with a satisfying noise and he throws the lock. On the other side of it, he can hear her screaming still. She pounds ineffectually, but he turns his back and strides back to the couch.

There would be fallout. Of that, he was sure. With her and the press when she inevitably ran to them with her story. With the hotel and their gig. But he wasn’t concerned about that right now. His thoughts turned to Vince.

“Fuck…” He ran his hands through his hair and tried to think. He was still coming down of the Tuinal and his thoughts didn’t seem to want to fall in the correct order.

The cart. The recorder.

He tears the reels from the machine and not knowing what else to do with them, unspools them, the metal wheels rolling across the floor away from him. As the narrow tape unwinds, he gathers it in his fists, crushing it into a harmless ball. He looks down at it when it’s all crumpled in his palms. Strange that something so small could ruin them.

He goes cold at the thought.

Without this, Maureen has nothing but her word. Who was going to believe  _ her _ over them? They’d be fine. They’d be fine.

Then he remembers the look on Vince’s face. He may still be in that hazy, Tuinal fog, but he’s horrified. Vince… Shame and regret flood him. Something twists painfully deep in his chest and he’s filled with the sudden, intense urge to go to Vince and apologise; grovel, even. He trips over his own feet to get to Vince’s door.   
  
His first knock goes unanswered.  _ We’ll be fine _ , he thinks. They’ve gotten through worse.

Another knock and still nothing.

Then it hits him. He's never yelled at Vince before, not like this. He's never attacked Vince for who he is. All at once, his knees go weak, and the possibility that he could have pushed Vince away for good- He could lose Vince over a moment's panic. He knocks again. 

"Please..." He puts everything he can into that one word.

There's a shuffling from the other side of the door and the lock clicks. Lanny feels like he can breathe again but just as quickly, the very likely possibility of a confrontation settles into his chest, forcing all the air out again. He opens the door.

He finds Vince sitting on the edge of his bed, a sheet wrapped around him. He looks small and vulnerable. Lanny is reminded of the twenty-something boy Vince had been when they'd first met.

No, he  _ couldn’t  _ lose Vince. He’d do whatever it took to make this right. Vince- Vince was a part of him. Losing him would be like losing a limb. Worse, even. Wounds like that healed. He didn’t think he would ever recover if Vince walked away.

He walks into the room and drops to his knees in front of Vince, a supplicant. "I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry."

Vince shakes his head and doesn't look at Lanny. His voice is calm when he finally talks. "I don't understand you, Lanny. We do. We do fuck. All the goddamn time. Sure, there's a girl there but... it's always us."

Lanny sighs. It was  _ different _ . He always told himself this, but when he tries to put it into words… Nothing. "I'm not-"

Vince looks at him then, his expression so disgusted, that Lanny shuts his mouth.

"Don't you dare. Just- forget about the goddamn labels, for once, and answer me this: Why is it always us, plus a third? Why not two women? Why never separately? Look me in the eye and answer me."

Lanny swallows, but he makes himself look at Vince. "Don't-"

"Because for my part, it's because I love you, Lanny."

His answer is automatic and completely genuine. "I lo-"

"No semantics. I'm IN love with you. You know this. I'd give you anything. But tonight- tonight... Either you're too ashamed to love me back- or..." He sets his jaw. "Or you're cruel."

Lanny feels like he's been punched in the stomach. He gapes. He’d thought nothing could hurt as much as the threat of Vince leaving him. He was wrong. Vince hating him was the new number one on the list of Things The Would Kill Lanny Morris.

"I've never considered that last option before. I always thought, given time..." Vince’s eyes drift away. “Either you’d figure it out or I’d get over you. But I can’t- fucking- do it.”

The words coming out of Vince's mouth are horrible, hurtful things, but they cut like only the truth can. Lanny's head spins. He loves Vince. Fiercely. But- He didn't- not with men.  _ They _ didn’t...

But Vince...

He thinks about being with Vince - all the times they had been together with women - and it's not the women that stand out in his mind. It's Vince. The line of his neck when his head's thrown back. The faint, pink blush across his cheeks. The way he gets women to kiss him by playing shy, making them chase after him.

He wonders what it'd be like to kiss Vince and heat floods through him.

"I- I don't think I can keep living on the hope of someday and I can't seem to shake my love for you. I can't-"

Vince's legs are shaking under Lanny's hands. He looks so sad and grave, but it takes Lanny a second to understand what he's saying. The blood rushing from his face. The world swims.

"No-"

"I think... Yes, Lanny. I think it's time to-"

Lanny doesn't let him finish. He surges up from where he's kneeling and kisses Vince hard, with a desperation he's never felt before, but not out of desire. He needs to stop Vince from saying something that they’ll both regret. Then Vince makes a muffled sound of protest, but to Lanny’s surprise, doesn’t pull away. The panic dissipates. Lanny softens the kiss, and oh- Desire flares just as suddenly. Lanny pushes his hands underneath the sheet and the sound Vince makes isn’t one of protest.

It’s a moan and Vince kisses him back, hands tangling in Lanny's hair. But the kiss is brief and over before Vince is pushing him away.

"Goddamn it, Lanny. You can't  _ do _ this."

Lanny clutches at the sheet, tries to pull Vince to him. He's overcome with grief and want. It’s all jumbled up in his head and heart. All he can think about it having this man, showing Vince that he's not whole without him.

"Stop!"

Lanny freezes and realises that Vince is crying again. He reaches a hand up to touch Vince's face but his hand his knocked aside.

"Why are you doing this?" The question comes out as a sob. "I'm not supposed to be someone you can fucking toy with. Why?"

"I want-" Lanny's throat closes. He doesn't have the words so he tries reaching for Vince again, slower this time. He cups Vince's face and it's a small relief when Vince turns into the caress, his eyes fluttering shut. Lanny wipes the tears from his cheek with his thumb.

He inches forward, nudging Vince's knees apart. Vince resists, a look of pain on his face. Lanny briefly considers that maybe it would be kinder to be the one to walk away. Maybe it would give Vince some peace if Lanny weren’t a part of his life anymore.

No. He shoves the thought aside. He knows Vince too well. It would be just as painful for him to be separated. He was in love with Lanny, after all-

It hits Lanny all at once: The reason Vince’s pain hurt him. The reason he’d rather die than be parted from this man.

“Fuck-” he mutters and Vince looks at him finally.

Lanny isn’t sure what Vince sees but he gives in degrees - shoulders lowering, leaning toward Lanny - and then all at once, knees parting. Lanny shuffles forward until they’re pressed chest to chest. Vince's legs squeeze his side. The man's hard, despite the tears. But Christ- Lanny's hard. He rocks his hips against Vince's and it's like something inside Vince breaks.

He pulls Lanny to him, wrapping his legs around his hips and burying his face in his neck. He's trembling like a leaf.

"Let me have you. Even if it's just pity... I'd rather have the memory. I never ask anything of you... Please, Lawrence. Please-"

Lanny can't listen to this- this broken begging from the man he- 

He turns his head and captures Vince's mouth in a kiss. He gives himself to Vince. He gives himself permission to love this man back. It terrifies him, but he trusts Vince. He trusts Vince with his life, his career… His heart.

When he pushes Vince back onto the mattress and drags away the sheet, laying him bare, he wonders why it ever took him this long to see. Vince is beautiful -  far more beautiful than Lanny could ever hope to be - and in love with him. He pauses and Vince looks up at him, eyes still glittering with tears.

"Ask me," Lanny rasps. "Ask of me what you really want."

Vince looks up at the ceiling and his words are barely audible in the darkened room.

"Love me back."

Lanny lowers himself on top of Vince and does just that.


End file.
